SF Students Ditch Class to Protest Mario Woods’s Death

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press13 Dec 2015

On Friday, hundreds of high school and middle school students walked out of class in San Francisco to protest the death of Mario Woods, who was shot Dec. 2 in a fatal confrontation with San Francisco police.

According to San Francisco police, Woods was brandishing a kitchen knife that he had allegedly used to stab someone when police accosted him. Woods allegedly refused to drop the knife, even though the officers had already tried to disarm him. Five officers fired a total of at least 15 shots, killing him.

Over 30 students and activists held a rally at the 16th Street BART station, then proceeded to City Hall, where scores of student protesters joined their march toward downtown, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

At one point, roughly 200 protesters were marching, shouting, “Black lives matter” and “Justice for Mario Woods,” and carrying signs reading, “No justice, no peace, no racist police,” and “Resist fight back don’t need our cops or our jails the whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

The march occurred the same day that a video was released of the fatal confrontation. The video heightened anger among community members, according to ABC 7.

One science and social studies teacher at San Francisco Community School told the Chronicle that more students would have skipped school, but “they are afraid of the police.”